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Pitch perfect! Non-league football groundsman's stunning pitch patterns

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A non-league football groundsman has gone viral for mowing stunning designs onto the pitch.

Joe Mecke-Davis, 26, has racked up over one million views on X, formerly known as Twitter, after sharing his intricate grass patterns to his 15,000 followers.

The Westfields FC groundsman, based in Hereford, can take up to three hours perfecting his design onto the grass before the players turn up for training.

Aerial shots show the 105m by 68m design in full scale, with its circular centre piece, parallel lines and diagonal chequered sequence on the flanks of the pitch.

Dad-of-one Joe, who won Groundsman of the year in 2024, said: "I got put in charge of the pitch five years ago and I'm only supposed to be down here for a couple hours a week."

"But I spend a lot of evenings here, I'm here over 10 hours a week easily when I'm only contracted for four and I'm here for longer on matchdays."

"The design that's on the pitch currently probably took me two hours to design on the iPad but once it's on the pitch, it took me an hour-and-a-half to put on the pitch. "

"I go over the same pattern four times a week to maintain."

"I mow Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then Saturday - this is purely a pre-season thing. A few people say I'll get banned but it's non-league, but it's only for pre-season. "

"It's only a bit of fun but people are a bit funny. "

"In the pre-season I'll do something fun and then in the season I'll do the standard chequered with some smaller lines. "

"This is my fifth or sixth season doing it, the funky patterns have only really been going for two seasons."

Joe gained a following after placing second in the world-wide pitch pattern Allet Creative Stripes competition last year.

He's now hoping his mowing skills at the club - who finished 13th in the Hellenic League last season which is in the ninth tier of English football - will earn him the top spot this year.

Joe, who lives with his partner Katy, said: "Everyone is so appreciative and the players all absolutely love it, they all thank me. The management love it, it does us wonders."

"It's very therapeutic, I come down here and put my headphones on and do it. It sounds sad but I enjoy coming here after work."

"You can only see if you go wrong once you send the drone up. Thankfully none of them have gone wrong yet. I treated myself to a fancy drone last year so I can see if I go wrong. "

"A pattern like this, when you're at eye height, you can't really see what's going on. It's not until you send the drone up it either makes or breaks your heart. "

"Once it's up, you can see if something is out of line or not straight. Thankfully it was all straight this time."

"There's a pitch competition where everyone all over the world enters their crazy designs. "

"Last year I came second in the whole world. I'm hoping to go one better this year and win it."

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